Past Recovery
by Fierce Delta Ladies-chan
Summary: When life throws a massive curve ball at Princeton-Plainsboro, every rule of the game changes, and four doctors have no choice but to keep playing.
1. Prologue

Title: Past Recovery

Category: House, M.D.

Pairings: Eventual House/Cuddy, Wilson/OFC, past Wilson/Amber, past OFC/OMC, hints of House/Wilson

Genre: Angst, Humor, Romance

Rating: M

Full Summary: Life goes on day after day at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Patients come and go, students become doctors, diseases are diagnosed, treated, and cured. But, every once in a while, life throws a curve-ball. Every once in a while, something happens to bring truth to everyone involved. Every once in a while, the hospital must face the fact that some things are past recovery...

Authors Notes: Welcome to our wonderful fic! We hope you enjoy it!

Past Recovery

It was the beginning of a typical work day at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. The bitter cold of January was visible on and through every window that faced outside. Thankfully, it hadn't snowed too much that week, so there was only the layer of frost covering the hospital grounds. Because of the chill, however, not many of the doctors employed there lingered too long outside to appreciate the wintry beauty. One doctor in particular avoided it.

The chill air always made the pain in his leg worse. House's brow furrowed as he sat in the conference room attached to his office, idly rubbing his damaged leg with one hand, while he occupied the other with his cane. His cane. The instrument which assisted him in his life's endeavors. He contemplated it, momentarily. How could a piece of wood evoke such powerful feelings and imagery, and yet be so simple in design?

A cane.

It's for old people, lamed people. A symbol of infirmity. A visible handicap that allowed people to assume certain things. Some things House didn't mind, some he did. It gained him certain liberties, a sort of notoriety. On the other hand, he needed it because he was crippled. He didn't like having to depend on something that he could lose so easily.

House's lips twisted in a wry smirk, self deprecating. Then there was Lisa Cuddy. He was emotionally crippled in respect to his feelings. He denied that he had them, or at least didn't indulge in any positive emotions like love. It was all just chemical reactions. He didn't have a visible crutch that revealed to all of his feelings toward his boss. No emotional cane he depended on could give the game away.

His unspoken feelings for his boss aside, there was that failed adoption. Well, second failed adoption. It had to be a sign, if he believed in signs and portents of otherworldly origins, which he didn't. Cuddy just wasn't meant to be a mother. He sighed, gustily. He needed an edge, some way to control the situation. Some way to shake up the game, shuffle the deck, 'cause things were getting boring.

House saw Wilson walk past, but paid the oncologist little mind. House had been feeling a little off lately, and it wasn't just because of the pain in his leg that was getting worse by inches every day. It was complicated. Maybe even Stacy level of complicated. House mused on this point, then shook his head, smirking wryly. Nah.

Meanwhile, an interview was finishing up in Cuddy's office. The head of the Cardiology department had recently passed, and there had been an immediate interest in filling the spot. Cuddy had looked over dozens upon dozens of applications before finding one that seemed promising. So, she'd made the call and scheduled the interview. Now, as she stood and shook the hand of the new Cardiology head, Lisa Cuddy was glad she made the call.

"Welcome to Princeton-Plainsboro, Doctor Fraser," she said professionally, making the official staff greeting. "Your office is on the fourth floor. I'll have someone stop by later today to have your name embossed on the door."

"Thank you Doctor Cuddy." Doctor Fraser smiled, shaking the older woman's hand. "I just want to say how much this means to me getting this position, at such a prestigious institution no less." She added. It was true, she was glad to get away from her previous hospital, away from her mother's shadow.

"I have a feeling you'll do wonderfully here," Cuddy started to say, but her pager chose that moment to go off, the distinctive trill slightly muffled in the pocket of the lab coat. Sighing, she pulled out the device and looked at it. "We'll have to talk again some other time. I hate to rush out and leave you to figure it out on your own, but I'm needed for a consult," she finished, honestly disheartened by the fact that she would not be able to fill in the details of the case file that had been left in the clinic for the next Cardiology head.

"There's a case file for your first patient in the clinic. Tell Carla you're the new head of Cardiology." Giving an apologetic smile to her newest employee, Cuddy walked around her desk and left her office, glancing at her watch. She hoped this wouldn't take long. She had last weeks clinic hours to total.

"I hope so." Dr. Fraser replied, and heard the familiar sound of a pager going off. "I look forward to talking to you again." She called out watching the older doctor leave the office. "Alright Angel, let's get moving." She mumbled to herself, exiting the office after Cuddy. Fourth floor, that's where she was headed. Pressing the elevator button, she waited patiently for the elevator to arrive. This was a whole new ball game, and Angel was glad to finally be out of the bullpen.


	2. Chapter 1

Past Recovery

Chapter 1: Trepidation

**January 16, 2009**

'_Finally!'_ Cuddy thought, leaving the exam room. That had to have been the most unnecessary consult she'd ever given. It was obvious what had been wrong with the patient, but she supposed it was only fair. The doctor in that room was a new hire, after all. But still, it didn't take a rocket scientist to tell the difference between the flu and the common cold. Sighing heavily, she returned to her office, hoping to finally have some time to finish her paperwork.

Settling into her chair, she pulled the clipboard Nurse Brenda had left on her desk earlier that morning towards her, flipping through the check in and check out times quickly before returning to the top page and really setting to work.

Feeling a little apprehensive, Dr. Wilson slowly made his way down the hall to Dr. Cuddy's office. He just hoped she wasn't busy because he really needed to talk to someone. Wilson was worried about House and didn't know anyone else he could talk to besides Cuddy. He stopped in front of her door and took a deep breath, releasing it gradually. He ran his hand through his hair and knocked three times.

_'Three hours... seven hours... seventeen hours...' _Cuddy kept the mental checklist running as she skimmed over the recorded clinic hours from the past week. Not surprisingly, the holder of the lowest record remained unchanged. She supposed she should be grateful for that in at least one respect.... It meant less paperwork for her.

Oh well. She'd chase him down later and... her mind went blank. Lisa Cuddy had tried everything to get House's clinic hours up, but nothing had worked. Some days, she wondered why she even tried. She was about to go back to the check-in sheet when there was a knock at the door. Thankful for a break, she set aside the clipboard.

"Come in," she said, relaxing back in her chair.

Wilson opened up her door. He ambled into her office and halted a few feet in front of her desk. He didn't even know where to begin. Wilson had been mentally preparing conversation openers as he walked down the hallway but they had all (conveniently) disappeared from his mind. When House was involved, it was probably better just to dive right in."I'm worried about House," he said, looking at her. He hadn't even bothered to sit down because he thought that the first invocation of that name was going to get him kicked out of the office.

Sitting up in her chair and leaning forward on her desk, she did her best to school her features to appear detached. Gesturing for Wilson to sit down, she sat back slightly. Too many possibilities of what had happened flooded her mind."What did he do this time?" Cuddy opened as casually as she could. "If he's doing anything stupid or insane, there's almost nothing I can do," she added as a disclaimer. It seemed like she always had to have a disclaimer whenever House was involved. Of course, it rarely defended against lawsuits, but what exactly was she supposed to do? Slap his wrist and take away cafeteria privileges? Oh, there was an idea! "Not that I won't try..." she amended.

He put his hands in his lab coat pockets and sat down. He should have known that she was going to assume the worst right away. "He didn't do anything," he quickly replied. "I'm here not as his colleague but as his...friend." That last word was hard to say. He remembered the day he had told House that he wasn't sure they were ever friends but, having had time to think things through, he thought he had been hasty with that proclamation. House was never going to change if he didn't have people who were willing to help him out along the way.

Allowing a brief look of surprise to cross her face, she relaxed visibly. As long as House wasn't doing anything, there was no reason to worry. At least, she hoped that was the case. Worrying stressed her, stress made her tired, and she could no longer afford to be constantly tired. The fall through of her second adoption attempt had drained her too much emotionally. It was still unbelievable that the infant's grandparents had changed their minds about taking in the baby girl.

"All right," she nodded. "So...What's the problem, then?" She flinched internally at her choice of words. It was a problem she struggled with endlessly; no matter what she tried to say in casual conversation, it sounded like she was permanently stuck in 'administrator mode'. Maybe too many years dealing with insane doctors had finally gotten to her...

House was House. That was the problem, but obviously Cuddy couldn't do anything to fix that. Wilson had to have something more concrete than that to say. "You need to stop being so hard on House," he replied, not even thinking about what he was saying to, of all people, his boss. "He may do crazy things every once in a while...or all the time," he added, correcting himself. "But nine times out of ten those crazy things save his patients' lives."

Everything seemed to suddenly stop. Since when had this been about her? Betraying little to no emotion, save shock and mild outrage, she leaned forward slowly. Doing her best to keep the emotions she felt out of her voice, she spoke as civilly as she could.

"I know that, Wilson. And I have to be hard on him so that he actually does his job." Even as she said it, she knew it was transparent logic. So, she did the only thing her position would allow her to do: she clarified. She knew it was probably a stupid move, knew she shouldn't have to justify her behavior, but there was nothing she could do about it. "If I don't force him, he doesn't do his clinic hours. If I don't tell him 'no' every so often, he could end up killing someone. If I don't..." she stopped with a heavy sigh.

Justification would get her nowhere. It was obvious to anyone who cared to notice that she cared more about patients walking out alive than she did about how they walked out at all. And she was only reinforcing that view with excuses disguised as reasons.

Wilson leaned forward slightly in his chair and intertwined his fingers, letting his hands fall down between his knees. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on the ground as he listened to Cuddy talk. He brought is eyes up to meet Cuddy's once she was done speaking.

"You know you have plenty of other doctors that can do clinic hours. Why force House to do something that anyone else in this hospital could do?" Wilson asked. "And if you do tell him 'no' he could end up killing someone," he added, stating the converse of her second 'if' statement.

Cuddy was silent for a few moments after Wilson spoke. Finally, she gave a tired sigh. There were dozens of reasons she forced House into the clinic, the main one being that he owed her more hours than any other doctor in the entire building. Working the clinic so many hours a day was part of his job. Wilson had never complained about having to do his share of clinic hours, so she couldn't see why he was defending House's objections to that part of his job. She knew Wilson wouldn't take that answer seriously, though. Each of the other reasons she could think of seemed more unbelievable than the last.

After searching in vain for something Wilson wouldn't scoff at, she settled lamely on, "he needs to work on his people-skills. He's the only doctor that avoids his patients until it becomes unavoidable." State the obvious....good job, Lisa, she chided herself. "And it's part of his job. Actually seeing the people he's supposed to be treating..."

There she went with excuses again. Wilson had to try his hardest to keep a smile from spreading across his face as he listened to Cuddy try to justify House working clinic hours. He sat up straight in the chair and let out a small chuckle. "People-skills," he repeated after her. "Did you ever once stop to think that it may be better that he doesn't have contact with his patients? He makes people grumpy."

His second point didn't even seem worth arguing. It seemed like every time Cuddy said 'no' to something House wanted to do, she always seemed to end up caving and washing her hands of the incident. So, she didn't say anything about it and skipped right to the point. "He asked you to talk to me about this, didn't he?" She knew it wasn't likely, but she felt pressed to get back to the original subject.

He emitted a short burst of laughter when Cuddy asked him that question. "Right," he said, sarcastically. "I'm House's loyal lap dog because, God knows, he'd be too afraid to bring this to your attention himself."

Cuddy just sat back, a cynical smile crossing her lips at Wilson's words. "So, it's perfectly all right for him to send his team out to do every test, every interview with the families, and bring every diagnosis and treatment to the patient as long as it keeps everyone around him happy?"

Of course, she had absolutely no doubt it was true. But that didn't mean she had to agree with it. At his next comment, she turned serious again. "He doesn't know you're here, then," she guessed. Finally, back on track. At least, she hoped they were...unless the fact that she was an untamable hardass was the real reason for Wilson's visit. In which case, this was going to take a while.

"I'm not saying it's right, Cuddy. No doctor should be like that...But he's good at his job, even if he does go about it in an odd manner." And that was the truth. As horrible as House's people-skills were he was one of the best doctors at Princeton-Plainsboro. Wilson shook his head.

"No, he doesn't know that I'm here. I couldn't tell him because I know he would've talked me out of coming to you in the first place." He let out a small sigh. "He hasn't been himself lately... not that that's always a bad thing, but I think it's a cause to be concerned about."

Though 'odd' was an understatement, it was certainly true. So, Cuddy just nodded in agreement and let it drop. There was really no more to say on the subject, except in the highly unlikely case that she wanted to keep the discussion going for another few hours. Which she didn't. And even if she did, no soul alive would ever hear of it.

"Hm..." she hummed. "That all depends on how much he's not like himself." Okay. That didn't even make much sense to her. "Let me re-phrase that. How much of a change is there?" That made a bit more sense, except for the small fact that House hadn't 'changed' a bit since he'd started working at the hospital. To tell the truth, she hadn't really noticed much of anything outside of her usual duties lately, and she certainly hadn't had much contact with the doctor in question. Which in itself was odd if she thought about it long enough.

"Too much," Wilson said, keeping his answer simple. It was true that his and House's relationship had changed dramatically since Amber's death and their reconciliation hadn't meant that they were best buddies again, but Wilson still cared deeply enough about House to notice that something wasn't right. "I'd talk to him about it but I can't. He wouldn't listen to me."

Now there was no doubt in Cuddy's mind that they had what could only be metaphorically described as a full-scale emergency situation. But then again, maybe that was giving House a bit more credit than he deserved. It kinda depended on who you asked, really."He wouldn't listen to me, either. But that's beside the point." The unspoken "He never listens to anyone." hung in the air between them. "Let's just get this figured out, and then we'll decide whether he needs to know about this conversation." Cuddy wasn't sure that was the best course of action at this point, but it was the first one she came up with. There would be time for other ideas later.

"And if he somehow finds out about this conversation?" Wilson asked, not needing to spell it out anymore for Cuddy. The last thing Wilson wanted was another reason for House to hate him. He contemplated her words for a minute before shaking his head. "He needs to know about it, Cuddy." That was the plain and simple truth. "I'll tell him," he said, offering to be the sacrificial lamb. "When the time is right," he quickly added.

Cuddy had to fight not to roll her eyes. She understood why Wilson was putting himself on the line, but she didn't like it. "If you tell him, he'll come after me. Or he'll close himself off. Or something." It was hard to say at this point what would happen. "If he finds out, it should be from me. You can stay anonymous, if it helps any." She knew it wouldn't (it never did), but she felt compelled to add the disclaimer. "But either way, neither of us can tell him anything if you don't tell me anything." After that, if Wilson still wanted to tell all, she wouldn't stop him.

"He won't come after you if I don't tell you anything," he exclaimed, as if it were some major breakthrough. "Thank you so much for your time," Wilson said, even though she hadn't really done much to help him out. He stood up. "I think I can take care of this myself." He let a small smile spread across his face. "I should get going." Wilson turned around and headed for her office door.

Placing her elbows on her desk and burying her face in her hands, Cuddy let out a frustrated sigh. Sometimes, she honestly wondered why people came to her for anything. She was too authoritative to be of any help, at any time, in any situation. Vaguely, she wondered who's fault that was....she had been rather easygoing in the past compared to now.

"What are you doing?" she asked tiredly. "You came in here for help, yelled at me, practically offered yourself up for execution, and now you're leaving?" She knew she was being unfair, but still! "You could have cut me out and gone to House to begin with. Unless coming in here and yelling at me for being a hardass was the whole point."

Cuddy stood up and moved around to the front of her desk. Sitting on the edge, she crossed her arms and stared at Wilson's back."If you think there's really something wrong with House, and you think I can fix it, he doesn't have to know. And you know he's not going to tell you anything." Harsh, yes. But it was true, for the most part.

Wilson stopped in his tracks and turned around, placing his hands on his hips. "What do you want me to say? Yes, Cuddy, I came in here just to yell at you for being such a hardass. Learn to lighten up around House. He won't know what's going on, and it'll drive him crazy." He knew that Cuddy was most likely right in saying that House wasn't going to tell him anything. "I won't know until I try," he replied. 'And if things go bad I can just blame it all on you,' he thought.

This was insane. Arguing wasn't going to help anyone. "You think he's changed because I've gotten stricter? You think that if I lighten up, he'll return to normal?" Raising her hands, Cuddy gave the 'I surrender' gesture that seemed to come so naturally after so many years of dealing with House. "Fine. If that's the problem, we have a solution," she said matter-of-factly, crossing her arms again. "And if I drive House crazy, he'll drive me crazy." Another excuse, but this one had the sad benefit of being true. At this point, it was clear that nothing she said or did would stop Wilson. So, she surrendered again. "Fine. But we both know how this will turn out." That being said, she leaned forward off her desk and moved to sit back in her chair.

"I think that I won't know the answer to any of your questions until I talk to the man himself." The way Wilson saw it it was pretty much a win-win situation for himself. If his talk with House got anywhere that would mean a huge step forward in mending their relationship. And if the talk got nowhere he could conveniently place the blame elsewhere and try again another day. When Cuddy was seated once again, Wilson walked back over to her desk. "Twenty bucks says I'll get through to him," he said, with a small smirk on his face. He extended his hand to Cuddy to seal the deal.

"Good luck," Cuddy muttered as she started shuffling papers around to distract herself. Though she tried hard not to, she found herself blinking up at Wilson's hand. "Are you seriously making a bet with me?" she asked, an amused smirk settling on her lips. "If you really are serious, twenty's pretty weak. I'll bet forty you can't get a word out of him." Confidently, she took two twenties out of her wallet and held them up to show she was serious. "Take it or leave it."

Setting the cash down in plain sight, she picked up the clinic's clipboard again and leaned back nonchalantly. If she did this properly, she could prove she was right and get some extra pocket money.

Even Wilson couldn't believe that he was making a bet with her. Maybe he picked it up from House? He quickly dismissed that thought from his head. Seeing that Cuddy wasn't interested in shaking his hand, he put it back down at his side. "It's a deal," he replied, without a moment's hesitation. "I'll go talk to him right now," Wilson added, feeling confident and feeling that nothing could go wrong. He turned around again, this time exiting the office for good.


	3. Chapter 2

Past Recovery

Chapter 2: Getting Comfortable

**January 16, 2009**

Angel walked into her office, smiling contently. It was your standard office, but it was hers. It had her name on the door and everything. She hung up her coat on the coat stand, adding a clean suit in a garment bag to the other side, just in case she ever needed to change. Walking further into the room, she ran her hand over the couch on one side, enjoying the feel of the leather under her skin. This led to her desk. Looking around, she decided she'd take the time to add little knick knacks later. Picking up her first patient file, she moved around the desk, sitting down in her comfortable chair. She crossed her legs, adjusting the skirt she wore before opening the file up and began to read.

Wilson had heard through the grapevine that Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital had just gotten a new Department Head of Cardiology. He had a little bit of free time and knew that the polite thing to do would be to introduce himself. He took the short walk over to Dr. Fraser's office and knocked on the door. Hearing a knock on her door, she wondered if someone needed her already. Looking up from her file, she looked at the door.

"It's open." She commented, waving her hand although she knew the person knocking probably couldn't see it. She put the file down on the desk and swung her legs under the desk, looking up to see who was about to enter.

Wilson entered and shut the door behind him. Who he saw sitting before him was not what he expected...in a good way. He strolled over to her desk and extended his hand to her.

"Dr. Fraser, I'm Dr. Wilson, head of the department of Oncology just right down the hall." He said with a friendly smile.

"Pleasure to meet you Dr Wilson, but please, call me Angel. Much easier to say." Angel said,

standing up to shake his hand. Sitting down again, she looked him over.

"And please just call me Wilson."

"How is life in the Oncology department?" She inquired. She gave him a friendly smile and motioned for him to take a seat.

"It's not too bad," he said, simply as he took the offered chair. "When it comes to cancer you always have to prepare yourself for the worst." And that was the truth. It was hard working in a job where your patients had no hope for a cure. The best they could hope for was that their cancer would go away and never come back.

"How very true." Angel nodded, knowing what it was liking having to tell patients bad news.

"How's your first day been going so far?" Wilson inquired politely.

"It's been rather uneventful quite frankly." She said, laughing. Closing the file on her desk, she leaned back in her chair. "So, tell me about Princeton-Plainsboro. What are the staff like?"

"They're nice," he replied, cautiously. It was no surprise to Wilson that the first person to come to his mind when she asked about the staff was House. "There is one person, though, that you should avoid at all costs---Dr. House." As much as Wilson valued his and House's friendship, Angel had a right to know.

"Dr. House?" She leaned in, looking at him with curiosity. "Now why would I want to avoid this doctor? Is he mean? Degrading?" She inquired again, wondering why Wilson seemed so adamant about warning her.

"Although I am glad that the staff here are nice. It should help make my adjustment to working here easier."

Wilson chuckled. "Mean and degrading don't even begin to cover it." He knew that by warning her he was also taking a risk that telling her this would make her want to go see House, but it was a risk Wilson was willing to take.

"I'll take that under advisement." She replied to Wilson. Sounds intriguing, she thought to herself.

"Where were you working before you came here?" Wilson didn't want to stay on the subject of House for too long, so he switched it by asking a question of his own.

"The same hospital my mother works at. She's the head nurse in pediatrics. When I heard Princeton-Plainsboro was looking for a cardiology department head, I was more than glad to apply to get out of my mother's shadow." She chuckled in response.

"That's understandable." He nodded, just as his pager went off. He looked down and saw that it was an emergency with one of his patients. "Duty calls," he said, standing up. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Angel." He smiled and made his way back out of her office door.

"Pleasure to meet you too Wilson." Angel smiled, giving him a wave. "Hope to see you around." She added, watching him leave. Shaking her head, she picked up the file again and looked it over. Putting it down, she looked around her office and knew that she'd need to start decorating it to her likings, it was rather plain at the moment.


End file.
